A Bitter Heart and A Cherry Blossom Mirror
by Rohynn
Summary: Naraku is defeated and Kagome is abandoned, or so it seems.Four years away from the Fuedal Era and instead of going to it,it comes to her.Or rather the people do.Told to never return she sets out to prove to herself, if not Inuyasha that she can deal.K/i


A Bitter Heart and A Cherry Blossom Mirror

AN: alright so I promised I'd update my other stories before starting yet another, but…. This idea just wouldn't leave me alone so I decided to just go ahead with it.

Stupid Plot Bunnies

Kagome: 19

Kagome, feigning interest in the Professors' lecture, zoned out, thinking about her current after school project, one which included copious amounts of paint and a entirely blank wall in her 3 bedroom house, a building that she owned outright, bought with a large sum of saved money from various archery tournaments she'd competed in, along with a few mixed martial arts competitions.

Thinking about the various tournaments she'd competed in brought to the front of her mind the reason why she'd begun training so hard shortly after her 15th birthday. Ignoring the sharp pains in her chest she once again tortured herself by reliving her most painful memory.

_Flashback_

"_Alright so Naraku has retreated to this cave system here." Sango said pointing to a spot on the roughly drawn map carved into the dirt._

_They, consisting of Kagome, Sango, Miroku, Inuyasha, Kouga, Shippo, Sesshomaru, and other assorted humans and demons, we're gathered around the map, there was small fire burning not there for warmth but for light so the humans in the groups we're able to see the map and offer suggestions. The small fire cast wicked shadows and a few humans watched the surroundings warily their faces drawn and shadowed._

"_There's a tunnel here that leads to the central cave, Naraku, if he has any sense will have all entrances guarded, but if we're lucky this one won't be as heavily manned." Miroku said pointing to another spot on the map._

"_Why should we be so lucky?" Kouga questioned_

"_Because it's behind a waterfall." Miroku deadpanned._

"_Oh."_

_Sunrise the next day_

_In the shadows of the quickly receding darkness demons, carrying humans on their backs, scaled the sheer rock face behind the bone-achingly cold waterfall. Quietly two shadow walkers slit the throats of the two reptile demons guarding the entrance. _

_Once every member of their ragtag group was inside the tunnel, carefully bracing their feet so as not to slide on the slime coating the floor of the downward sloping tunnel._

_Keeping to the shadows Inuyasha and Kouga led the way; of course they only did so after they assured themselves Kagome was concealed in the middle of the group with Sesshomaru and Miroku as her guards. Kagome stifled her frustration at being treated like a child…Hadn't she proven herself a capable fighter in the last 2 months, constantly training with any demon or human who had the time to teach her any tricks they might have, she had a medium competency with a sword and was superb at handling kunai and or course her traditional bow. She'd abandoned her normal clothing, her school uniform, in favor of a pair of non-restricting black cargo pants that had various weapons hidden in the pockets, a long sleeve dark blue shirt, to cover her pale skin, and her inky black hair, now a foot shorter, just above her shoulders when it wasn't in a tight bun, had been chopped so as to prevent someone from grabbing a hold of it, she'd removed her earrings for safety, and her hands were protected with a pair of black gloves with steel plates on the back of her hands, the finger of the gloves had been cut off so her grip on her bow wouldn't be impeded in the slightest._

_As the group made their way through the ancient cave system she began to sense jewels shards, a large concentration of them in fact, tapping Sesshomaru's hand twice in the agreed upon signal the message was quickly passed to the front to Inuyasha and Kouga._

_They continued forward, more alert than before, if that was at all possible, weapons began to be readied and armed, energy was gathered by the magic-users in the group and those with energy-based attacks began to gather their energy as well._

_Suddenly there was screaming and the sounds of weapons clashing and Kagome realized it had begun. It was either kill or be killed now and she began to fight for her life and for the lives of her friends. All the while, as she continuously cut down the opponents that surrounded her she began to make her way forward, towards Inuyasha, closely followed by her guards._

_She hear him before she saw him, taunting Inuyasha, whom she could see, his distinct white hair streaming behind him as he leapt towards the menace that'd been plaguing them for nearly a year._

"_Surely Inuyasha you have realized it is futile, I have all of the shards but the pathetic few you little Priestess has managed to scrounge up. I am stronger than ever on you have no hope of defeating me, just as it has always been."_

"_Bullshit!" Inuyasha screamed as he released the wind scar upon Naraku once again_

_Kagome got into position and waited for the opportune moment concentrating as much energy as she could into one of her spirit arrows. She readied her bow and let Miroku and Sesshomaru watch her back as they were meant to at this point._

_She began to worry as she saw Inuyasha get increasingly angry, his features began to morph into that of his demon visage, his eyes began to change, blood red bleeding into his normally richly golden irises, the elongated marks appeared on his face, his canines lengthened, becoming more menacing. _

_Inuyasha began to get clumsy in his rage…the continuing insults about his parentage, his abilities and Kagome threw him over the edge, Naraku finally got in a serious hit, slamming Inuyasha into a wall with one of his tentacles. Kagome, seeing he was focusing entirely on Inuyasha took her shot._

_Demons and humans looked up, anticipation building, the arrow connected, passing through Naraku and purifying him._

_The incomplete Shikon Jewel, floating in the midst of Naraku's dissipating miasma, glowed with an eerie violet light, pulsing, and sending out black sparks. Kagome drew her purified shards out of the glass vial she'd kept them in for the past year. Concentrating on the tainted jewel, she began to weave her energy around it instinctively, cleansing the taint from the Jewel. As she worked Inuyasha calmed and watched her, his demonic visage receding, leaving his eyes a warm gold once again._

_Time seemed to pass in a blur for Kagome, in reality hours passed as the humans and demons in their ragtag group began to clean up, quickly ending the misery of those that were lingering, and retrieving their dead to be buried far away from the last stand of Naraku's horde._

_Inuyasha began to worry as light began to fade and only the glow from Kagome's spirit energy and the Shikon no Tama provided light. There was enough light to see that streaks of white were slowly beginning to appear in Kagome's inky black hair which had fallen out of it's bun at some point during the battle._

_Kagome's serene face did not reassure him._

_All through the night Kagome worked to purify the jewel and finally in the light of the next day, in a meadow full of flowers she woke, exhausted but accomplished._

_Inuyasha had moved her from the cave sometime in the night, not wanting to remain in the stinking and oppressive darkness of the caves._

_The early morning light highlighted the thin streaks of white randomly interspersed with Kagome's black tresses. Inuyasha watched as she stretched, her shirt riding up to reveal a toned stomach, a pink tinge made it's way across his pale skin and he shook his head a bit and calmed down._

_Landing gracefully at the base of the tree Kagome was propped against he spoke quietly,_

"_You were out for a whole day."_

"_Cleansing the jewel took sometime, Naraku's darkness was hard to remove." She replied smiling up at the dog-eared demon looking at her seriously._

"_It shows."_

"_What do you mean?" Kagome questioned curiously._

"_Here." Inuyasha said shoving an old mirror framed in word carved with a beautiful pattern of cherry blossoms._

"_OH!" Kagome exclaimed, shocked._

"_Exactly."_

"_Well, I guess it will grow on me." Kagome said frowning._

"_Kagome…I… Well, that is, Sango, Miroku, Kaede and I think you should return to your time now."_

"_Well I should visit Mom, Gramps and Souta...I haven't seen them in a month." Kagome replied cheerfully, not realizing her world was about to come crashing down around her._

"_I'll stay for about a week then come back and visit you guys…I can teach Shippo-"_

"_NO! That's not what I meant. We think you need to stay in your time and not come back…" Inuyasha trailed off, seeing on Kagomes' face that she was about ready to blow._

"_What do you mean 'not come back'?" Kagome yelled._

"_You're not meant to be here Kagome…you're not made for the brutality of this time…your human." Inuyasha said stoically._

"_But Sango and Miroku-" Kagome began._

"_Were raised in this time and trained for this lifestyle, you weren't."_

"_But Inuyasha...I lo-" Kagome started tearfully._

"_Sesshomaru will escort you to the well." Inuyasha said curtly, turning away._

"_No need, I'll go by myself." Kagome said coldly, gathering the shreds of her dignity around herself._

"_So be it."_

_A rustle of leaves was his only reply. As he turned the glittering of the Shikon Jewel in the sunlight caught his attention._

_Kagomes voice drifted to him on the wind, "Do with it as you wish, after all I don't belong here, so I have no say."_

_It took her almost four hours to reach the well and she wasn't accosted by demon nor human, though she could feel eyes watching her the whole way. She ignored them, desperately trying to prevent her heart form breaking into pieces._

_Looking around her one last time, she whispered one last sentence, not caring who was listening, _

"_I love you Inuyasha. Goodbye."_

_End Flashback_

Shaking herself and pushing her heartache away for the time being she made herself pay attention to the rest of the lecture.

"Japanese mythology includes an obscure legend about a jewel called the Shikon no Tama…"

_Tbc…_

Well that's it for this chapter, 8 pages, that's pretty long for me. I will try to update this at least once a week until I start classes then it might, between college and work, be every two weeks. If I start to take any longer send me angry emails to give me a kick in the butt.

So that battle was pretty short…hmm, wonder why?

And Kagome has white hair; **gasp** is she turning into Rogue?

…

.

Nah, just messing with you.

Remember reviews are my cocaine; I need 'em like an addict needs his next hit.

Luvs and cookies to all, Rohynn.


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